Underwater combat idea

wilykcat

In other games like guild wars 2 and world of warcraft, players and npcs can all swim under water anywhere. They can all use abilities, skills, and fight while swimming and/or idle while under water. Also players can use emotes while in the water as well.

Guild wars 2 has an underwater combat specific skill line that activates automatically when in the water and unlocks at around level 6. The skill line automatically adjust based on the weapon that is currently equipped and the player's class. That enables full under water combat and utility abilities.

In world of warcraft all abilities/spells can be cast and used while in the water.

For Elderscrolls to get the underwater combat, the game needs to add in underwater swimming first. This will happen when ever in deeper water in any zone that has it. They also have to add in a variety of underwater ability/spell animations, graphics, and npcs. Along with underwater resources.

The sprint stamina ability should also make players swim faster while in the water. While dodging in the water the character will rotate to another position when moving in another direction. The hair and clothes should have a full flowing animation with physics. There should also be clusters of many animated small and medium sized bubbles around player's character or pets when under water.

Any other suggestions or ideas for underwater combat?

Brrrofski

Seems like a lot of time and resources that could be spent better elsewhere in the game.

It's far too niche.

phaneub17_ESO

The game has deep water hard coded, they would have to overhaul a lot to make it work. Mobs can't enter deep water and if they do it causes them to despawn immediately, you can test this by knocking them into it.

I_killed_Vivec

Your fire skills wouldn't work.

Your frost skills would leave you stuck in a block of ice.

Your lightning skills... well, we all know electricity and water don't mix!

valenwood_vegan

I'm not gonna go searching for it, but I do remember it being mentioned somewhere in the past that the engine doesn't support going underwater (or flying). Not that this means they *couldn't* do it... but there are a lot of issues with the game that need attention that I'd personally rather have them focus on. Sometimes it seems the game is just barely held together with glue and duct tape as it is...

RodneyRegis

Hey look, the answer to the questin no-one asked

SilverIce58

You know how underwater content works in the Graven Deep dungeon? That's how I'd imagine combat to be. Slow, and we'd all have an air bubble surrounding us (except maybe Argonians bc they can breathe underwater).

LalMirchi

What works in other games does not guarantee that the would work in ESO. The game engine apparently does not support underwater warfare so this is a moot point.

IMHO there are many areas to develop instead of such unrealistic ideas.

Soraka

Water combat imo is usually the worst part of games that have it. I do wish my companion could swim through water with me though. Just seems odd when they disappear.

SkaraMinoc

Everquest had an open world, underwater dungeon 25 years ago. It's odd that ESO doesn't have underwater swimming and combat. This should be a baseline feature of every 3D MMORPG.

GooGa592

I don't think we need underwater anything. There is more than enough above ground content already.

Jaimeh

phaneub17_ESO wrote: »

The game has deep water hard coded, they would have to overhaul a lot to make it work. Mobs can't enter deep water and if they do it causes them to despawn immediately, you can test this by knocking them into it.

This ^ Even just the water on the floor in IC sewers tends to glitch mobs out sometimes...

JerBearESO

This would require a monumental degree of work moreso than you may realize. It may even be impractical depending on the current character controller design; if you mean to implement under water gameplay.

It's basically just a decently good idea that is an absolutely bad idea only because it would be too much work for too little reward.

Vevvev

I_killed_Vivec wrote: »

Your fire skills wouldn't work.

Your frost skills would leave you stuck in a block of ice.

Your lightning skills... well, we all know electricity and water don't mix!

Funnily enough Guild Wars 2 solved those problems.

Fire is magma spells, Ice creates spikes or manipulates the water you're in directly, and Lightning is AoE attacks around you like you're an electric eel.

TES lore even supports that kind of magic working underwater, and I've used elemental spells in Oblivion, Morrowind, and Skyrim while underwater so there's no problems with any of them.


That said, as others pointed out due to how ESO is programmed underwater combat is not going to be a thing, sadly. The devs made the decision long ago to not include it and designed the whole world around it being absent. Even caves like the one in Blackwood that was flooded was completely drained to be usable in ESO.

Necrotech_Master

the have the prototype for underwater, the last section of graven deep before the final boss